Amistad Links Bring Landmark Nomination

April 17, 1998|By FREDERICK NEVIN; Courant Correspondent

FARMINGTON — Town historians are cheering a plan to designate a Main Street property with ties to the Amistad as a national historic landmark.

The National Park Service plans to nominate the Austin F. Williams Carriagehouse and house at 127 Main St. as a landmark. The two buildings are famous for their roles in sheltering slaves from the Spanish ship Amistad before they were able to journey home.

According to historians, the carriagehouse was built by Austin F. Williams to shelter 38 members of the Amistad after they were released from a New Haven jail cell following a landmark 1841 Supreme Court ruling that freed them. An adjacent house, built later, was used by Williams and his family.

Earlier in the week, the town council endorsed the nomination, which will be sent in the next few months to the National Park System Advisory Board.

Noting the property's link to the area's rich African American history, council Chairman Arline Whitaker called the designation ``well deserved.''

Because the two buildings are already in the town historic district, national recognition only further protects them from changes or other development on the property. In general, the distinction ensures that any work on the dwellings will not alter them.

The present owners, according to town historians, are committed to preserving the property for future generations.

The house boasts clapboard siding and sits on a high-brick and brownstone foundation that is exposed on three sides. The original flooring remains intact, as do the posts and beams that serve as support. There has been little change to the exterior, according to a parks service study of the property.

The interior of the house is well preserved, the study reports. Interior details include wide cornice moldings around the 11-foot-high first-floor ceilings.

Town historians are passionate in their support of the designation.

``It is a wonderful idea,'' said Barbara Donahue, a local historian and author who recently teamed up with the Farmington Historical Society to write the book ``Speaking for Ourselves: African American Life in Farmington, Connecticut.'' Donahue described the structure as a ``humble building; much more revealing of real life.''

For Farmington, Donahue said, the designation would ``help solidify our important part in the Amistad story and underground railroad of which there are several stations in town.'' She said the role the town played was not covered in Steven Spielberg's movie ``Amistad.''

When the slaves arrived in Farmington after the court ruling, they found shelter only in a small one- room apartment above what is now The Village Store. Austin Williams, an abolitionist and businessman of his time, saw that the space was too small and decided to build them a place at the 127 Main St. address.

The eastern end of the carriagehouse, which sits on 2.6 acres on the east side of Main Street, played an important role in the abolition movement and is believed to have served as a station on the Underground Railroad. A trap door leading to a small space below the facility served as a place where slaves used to hide and is still intact today, according to historians.

Charles Leach, president of the Farmington Historical Society, cheered the possible designation which has been in the planning stage for approximately four years. ``There are certain gems of African American history around town,'' he said, ``and this is one of them.''